December13

December 13, 2001

Week 30

I really thought time would start to slow down as I reached these last weeks of pregnancy, but instead everything just seems to be speeding up. Maybe that's partly to do with this being Christmas season, when everything usually zooms by anyway, but I feel like suddenly I have no time at all until the baby is due to make her appearance! According to my little countdown clock, as of today I have two months and ten days. Is that all? Really? Two months is nothing! It actually sounds like I have more time when I say I have ten weeks to go; maybe that's because I went to school at Ohio State, where an entire quarter of classes was ten weeks, and at least for the particularly dreadful classes, those ten weeks were a long time. Okay, really, I'm just trying to rationalize it. Ten weeks is NOT a long time. This baby is coming soon! And perhaps even sooner than that. Yesterday my "due date buddy" from the BabyZone.com February due date board went to the hospital because she was having worrisome contractions. I've now seen ladies who are due earlier in February go through the same thing, but to have Jenifer, who is also due Feb. 23, go through that, I admit, scared me a little bit! I know it's very possible to go into pre-term labor at this point, my friend Marcia did, but it just doesn't FEEL possible that it could happen already. Maybe it's because I'm still so not ready. I want to go to at least a couple labor classes. :-) Once I get some baby gear I'll probably feel better too, but as of right now we are NOT prepared. Not that things aren't progressing though, they are somewhat. Mom brought over Sarah's old high chair and her bassinet this weekend. Of course the kitties had to check out that bassinet quite a bit; hopefully they'll get used to seeing it in the next couple months so they won't pester the baby too much once she's in it. :-) We have an appointment scheduled for next week to meet with a pediatrician. He was recommended by a friend of my mom's, Karen, who has two children, and they've been really pleased with the practice Dr. Kern is a part of. He's located in Gahanna, too, so it would be really close to home. This week I've been reading up on all the kinds of questions to ask when you go in for the 'interview'. Hopefully everything will go well, and by this time next week I'll have "finding a baby doctor" crossed off of my list of things to do. Looking into January, Phil and I are pretty well booked. We have appointments or classes scheduled what seems like about every other day. And on the weekends we will be getting the nursery together, finally. I'm sure it won't happen before Christmas, but Phil is now narrowing down some office choices and so we'll be able to get him moved out of Natalie's room very soon. Then we (well, Phil) can get the walls painted and (Mom) the Noah's Ark border up, and then I can finally let my friends from church know that they can bring over the promised baby furniture! (A crib and a changing table.) They've all been patiently waiting so far, but I know they probably are looking forward to getting that stuff out of their houses and into ours!

Speaking of friends from church, I now have clothes to wear again! Including a couple really nice things, one of which I'll be wearing to my work Christmas party this weekend. I didn't think I'd have anything to wear except what I wear every day, which is pretty much jeans and a shirt, but Muriel Morris (the same lady who is giving us the crib) gave me some really pretty dressy outfits this weekend. And they actually FIT! Hurray! Another friend who gave me clothes is a little smaller than me, but she had twins so most of the clothes - at least the shirts - she gave me fit too. So suddenly I have stuff that fits again, which makes me feel better. Plus, I'm not wearing the same three of four shirts over and over again. A little variety! Oh, and here's a funny story. Another lady at church came up to me Sunday morning and said she had a really pretty black "holiday" kind of dress that lately she'd been thinking she should give to me. She said she had been keeping it for a long time in case she had another baby, but now it looks like that's not going to happen so she said so she might as well let someone else use it. Now, this woman is a RAIL, just the kind of person who is naturally tall and thin: she's about 5 foot 9 and probably weighs not much more than 110. I smiled and sort of chuckled and said that would be really nice, but I "wasn't SURE it would fit me, because you are so tiny." I asked if she knew what size the dress was. She said to me 'Oh, yes, but you're tiny too -I think it's a size 6 or 8. It should fit you!" I just told her "Well, you can bring it in to church; I can at least try it on to see if it would fit!" It's very nice of her to offer and I hate flatly refusing any nice maternity clothes, but I'd be lucky if a dress that size fit over one thigh!!!! Maybe if you added a ONE on the front of that dress size! Though I do certainly appreciate hearing about how "tiny" I am. :-) Once again, I thank my mom for my skinny legs and my dad for my stick arms, because what's in BETWEEN those areas (and I guess hidden better than I think) sure ain't tiny!

Christmas is coming up so soon, and we haven't gotten anything ready for it yet. I've still only bought one present, when I made the mistake of hitting the stores the day after Thanksgiving to get Phil something. I think that did me in, and I haven't been back since. And I think I was only out in the crowds on that day for an hour or two at most, but it was just really exhausting. I've never much minded the shopping crowds before, but now that I'm a little (ahem) bigger, I don't quite fit through the throngs of people packed this way and that in every aisle-way anymore. It was really tiring to have to walk WAY out of my way to get around group after group of people, just to get on the other side of the aisle. No one much pays attention to you saying "excuse me, excuse me" when there's a big sale on. I really do have to get out there and get some more stuff done though. Christmas is in less than two weeks! If I would have had any idea how easily I tire these days, I would have made a real effort to get my Christmas shopping done a LONG time ago. Too late now. I'm considering a few online purchases too, but even with that my time is running short for getting things delivered! Oh, and this weekend I about brought myself to complete exhaustion again because I once again forgot my body wasn't capable of doing normal things. We haven't put up a single decoration except for one string of lights on our front tree. And we don't have a tree yet. On Sunday afternoon we had the grand idea to go cut down a tree at a tree farm, like we have done (and really enjoyed) every year. After walking around for about a half hour among all the tree stumps, mud, holes, etc, I was completely exhausted and my belly hurt from having to balance myself on all the uneven ground. We ended up leaving without getting a tree, which was really frustrating on a couple fronts, one of which being that I had dragged Phil out there (a half hour drive) when he really wanted (and I'm sure I too needed) our Sunday afternoon nap, only to drive back empty-handed. As much as I like fresh cut trees, I guess this year we'll just be getting a half dead tree that was cut down sometime around Halloween at a parking lot stand. Not that it really matters all that much, at this point the tree only has to last a couple more weeks! I keep telling myself not to worry about it, because next year we won't have so much going on and we'll be able to do some of these things again. (Yep, sure, with a ten month old to chase around)

I think the most exciting thing that has happened this week other than this past weekend's events, is that the other day we were sitting on the couch reading the paper and I felt Natalie moving around quite a lot. I looked down, and I distinctly saw an entire limb (probably a leg, though I don't know for sure if she's in the head down position yet - that's something I want to ask about at my next appointment next Tuesday) move from my right to left side. My entire tummy moved with her, and for the first time it felt like she was just laying right under my shirt and not inside of me, because the feeling was so strong, almost like I could pick up and move her leg/arm by itself, it felt almost like skin against skin. Very neat to see and feel. I can definitely tell she's running out of room in there though. I feel less and less big, somersault-like churning movements now. Mostly she just wiggles and squirms. And pokes. Sometimes I just sit and laugh out loud (lots of times at work too) at my moving tummy. When she gets really active and pokes in a particular spot, I like to poke back at that spot and watch her respond. Lots of times she pokes back right where I poke in at her. It's really cute. She's done it for Phil a couple times (and sometimes she responds when he sings to her too), but she still seems pretty shy about performing for anyone else but me. I guess everyone else will just have to take my word for it. :-)

This weekend we plan to get a lot done: our house needs a serious scouring from top to bottom (plus Phil's sister Julie is coming to stay with us early next week with a couple friends on her way up from Evangel on Christmas break), and we are GOING to get a Christmas tree (no matter how dead) and get decorations up! Oh, and P.S. - Rite Aid found my pictures, so I'm also going to get new (actually, very old!) pictures up on this site this weekend too. Finally!



	December 13, 2001 Week 30 I really thought time would start to slow down as I reached these last weeks of pregnancy, but instead everything just seems to be speeding up. Maybe that's partly to do with this being Christmas season, when everything usually zooms by anyway, but I feel like suddenly I have no time at all until the baby is due to make her appearance! According to my little countdown clock, as of today I have two months and ten days. Is that all? Really? Two months is nothing! It actually sounds like I have more time when I say I have ten weeks to go; maybe that's because I went to school at Ohio State, where an entire quarter of classes was ten weeks, and at least for the particularly dreadful classes, those ten weeks were a long time. Okay, really, I'm just trying to rationalize it. Ten weeks is NOT a long time. This baby is coming soon! And perhaps even sooner than that. Yesterday my "due date buddy" from the BabyZone.com February due date board went to the hospital because she was having worrisome contractions. I've now seen ladies who are due earlier in February go through the same thing, but to have Jenifer, who is also due Feb. 23, go through that, I admit, scared me a little bit! I know it's very possible to go into pre-term labor at this point, my friend Marcia did, but it just doesn't FEEL possible that it could happen already. Maybe it's because I'm still so not ready. I want to go to at least a couple labor classes. :-) Once I get some baby gear I'll probably feel better too, but as of right now we are NOT prepared. Not that things aren't progressing though, they are somewhat. Mom brought over Sarah's old high chair and her bassinet this weekend. Of course the kitties had to check out that bassinet quite a bit; hopefully they'll get used to seeing it in the next couple months so they won't pester the baby too much once she's in it. :-) We have an appointment scheduled for next week to meet with a pediatrician. He was recommended by a friend of my mom's, Karen, who has two children, and they've been really pleased with the practice Dr. Kern is a part of. He's located in Gahanna, too, so it would be really close to home. This week I've been reading up on all the kinds of questions to ask when you go in for the 'interview'. Hopefully everything will go well, and by this time next week I'll have "finding a baby doctor" crossed off of my list of things to do. Looking into January, Phil and I are pretty well booked. We have appointments or classes scheduled what seems like about every other day. And on the weekends we will be getting the nursery together, finally. I'm sure it won't happen before Christmas, but Phil is now narrowing down some office choices and so we'll be able to get him moved out of Natalie's room very soon. Then we (well, Phil) can get the walls painted and (Mom) the Noah's Ark border up, and then I can finally let my friends from church know that they can bring over the promised baby furniture! (A crib and a changing table.) They've all been patiently waiting so far, but I know they probably are looking forward to getting that stuff out of their houses and into ours! Speaking of friends from church, I now have clothes to wear again! Including a couple really nice things, one of which I'll be wearing to my work Christmas party this weekend. I didn't think I'd have anything to wear except what I wear every day, which is pretty much jeans and a shirt, but Muriel Morris (the same lady who is giving us the crib) gave me some really pretty dressy outfits this weekend. And they actually FIT! Hurray! Another friend who gave me clothes is a little smaller than me, but she had twins so most of the clothes - at least the shirts - she gave me fit too. So suddenly I have stuff that fits again, which makes me feel better. Plus, I'm not wearing the same three of four shirts over and over again. A little variety! Oh, and here's a funny story. Another lady at church came up to me Sunday morning and said she had a really pretty black "holiday" kind of dress that lately she'd been thinking she should give to me. She said she had been keeping it for a long time in case she had another baby, but now it looks like that's not going to happen so she said so she might as well let someone else use it. Now, this woman is a RAIL, just the kind of person who is naturally tall and thin: she's about 5 foot 9 and probably weighs not much more than 110. I smiled and sort of chuckled and said that would be really nice, but I "wasn't SURE it would fit me, because you are so tiny." I asked if she knew what size the dress was. She said to me 'Oh, yes, but you're tiny too -I think it's a size 6 or 8. It should fit you!" I just told her "Well, you can bring it in to church; I can at least try it on to see if it would fit!" It's very nice of her to offer and I hate flatly refusing any nice maternity clothes, but I'd be lucky if a dress that size fit over one thigh!!!! Maybe if you added a ONE on the front of that dress size! Though I do certainly appreciate hearing about how "tiny" I am. :-) Once again, I thank my mom for my skinny legs and my dad for my stick arms, because what's in BETWEEN those areas (and I guess hidden better than I think) sure ain't tiny! Christmas is coming up so soon, and we haven't gotten anything ready for it yet. I've still only bought one present, when I made the mistake of hitting the stores the day after Thanksgiving to get Phil something. I think that did me in, and I haven't been back since. And I think I was only out in the crowds on that day for an hour or two at most, but it was just really exhausting. I've never much minded the shopping crowds before, but now that I'm a little (ahem) bigger, I don't quite fit through the throngs of people packed this way and that in every aisle-way anymore. It was really tiring to have to walk WAY out of my way to get around group after group of people, just to get on the other side of the aisle. No one much pays attention to you saying "excuse me, excuse me" when there's a big sale on. I really do have to get out there and get some more stuff done though. Christmas is in less than two weeks! If I would have had any idea how easily I tire these days, I would have made a real effort to get my Christmas shopping done a LONG time ago. Too late now. I'm considering a few online purchases too, but even with that my time is running short for getting things delivered! Oh, and this weekend I about brought myself to complete exhaustion again because I once again forgot my body wasn't capable of doing normal things. We haven't put up a single decoration except for one string of lights on our front tree. And we don't have a tree yet. On Sunday afternoon we had the grand idea to go cut down a tree at a tree farm, like we have done (and really enjoyed) every year. After walking around for about a half hour among all the tree stumps, mud, holes, etc, I was completely exhausted and my belly hurt from having to balance myself on all the uneven ground. We ended up leaving without getting a tree, which was really frustrating on a couple fronts, one of which being that I had dragged Phil out there (a half hour drive) when he really wanted (and I'm sure I too needed) our Sunday afternoon nap, only to drive back empty-handed. As much as I like fresh cut trees, I guess this year we'll just be getting a half dead tree that was cut down sometime around Halloween at a parking lot stand. Not that it really matters all that much, at this point the tree only has to last a couple more weeks! I keep telling myself not to worry about it, because next year we won't have so much going on and we'll be able to do some of these things again. (Yep, sure, with a ten month old to chase around) I think the most exciting thing that has happened this week other than this past weekend's events, is that the other day we were sitting on the couch reading the paper and I felt Natalie moving around quite a lot. I looked down, and I distinctly saw an entire limb (probably a leg, though I don't know for sure if she's in the head down position yet - that's something I want to ask about at my next appointment next Tuesday) move from my right to left side. My entire tummy moved with her, and for the first time it felt like she was just laying right under my shirt and not inside of me, because the feeling was so strong, almost like I could pick up and move her leg/arm by itself, it felt almost like skin against skin. Very neat to see and feel. I can definitely tell she's running out of room in there though. I feel less and less big, somersault-like churning movements now. Mostly she just wiggles and squirms. And pokes. Sometimes I just sit and laugh out loud (lots of times at work too) at my moving tummy. When she gets really active and pokes in a particular spot, I like to poke back at that spot and watch her respond. Lots of times she pokes back right where I poke in at her. It's really cute. She's done it for Phil a couple times (and sometimes she responds when he sings to her too), but she still seems pretty shy about performing for anyone else but me. I guess everyone else will just have to take my word for it. :-) This weekend we plan to get a lot done: our house needs a serious scouring from top to bottom (plus Phil's sister Julie is coming to stay with us early next week with a couple friends on her way up from Evangel on Christmas break), and we are GOING to get a Christmas tree (no matter how dead) and get decorations up! Oh, and P.S. - Rite Aid found my pictures, so I'm also going to get new (actually, very old!) pictures up on this site this weekend too. Finally!